We were delighted to welcome new national members from Ghana, Hungary, Macedonia, Republic of Korea, Romania and Thailand. You have to look back to the early days of our organization for so many members joining in one year. These new members join a fantastic network of organizations, and many of their activities can be found throughout the Annual Review.

Our international projects go from strength to strength. We collaborate with partners and donors around the world to support the development of national forest certification systems, innovate new ways to get more trees certified and work with smallholders. There are now at least a dozen countries developing national systems and preparing for PEFC membership.

We also launched the revision process of our Sustainability Benchmarks – the standards that form the basis for nearly all our activities. As the world changes, best practices and knowledge evolve and society’s expectations grow, we must make sure our standards are the best they can be. The process that will take more than two years, affect the majority of our standards, and involve hundreds of experts and thousands of stakeholders.

Last but not least, 2016 was the year we reached 300 million hectares of PEFC-certified forest!

We hope this Annual Review helps give you a glimpse of the work of the PEFC alliance. And if you feel inspired, please get in contact – we look forward to hearing from you!